Tag Archives: leftovers

My brother’s mother-in-law shared with him that she and her husband were doing a version of “The Great Purge”. Seeing as how they are ’empty-nesters’, I thought their viewpoint would be a fresh perspective on the exercies. Thanks Colleen for sharing!

——————–

We didn’t start purging for any particular reason…there wasn’t an epiphany or anything like that. I have frozen leftovers for years but usually ended up throwing them away.

So, one day I looked in my freezer and saw all the extra stuff frozen and decided to take a chapter from the book of “Kristin School of Cooking.” Tod told me how she goes through her freezer periodically and purges.

As a result, I am in the process of purging my freezer when I don’t want to go to the grocery store or just simply want to make room in the freezer. My best advise to those who are new to freezing leftovers??…

Label your packages! One might think that since freezer bags are clear, it is easy to identify the food item. Not so…plus it’s good to date the package as well.

Thank you for the idea…also makes me feel better that I’m not wasting food!

Being that we have three kids – two of those kids being middle schoolers – the madness I refer to could be any number of things.

But in this instance, I’m talking about #TheGreatPurge.

I have made 20 original meals out of proteins and starches from the pantry and freezer. Those dishes have stretched into way more than 20 meals; and although I didn’t officiallly keep track, I would guess that we have gotten 5-8 more meals out of them – totally nearly 30 meals of ‘leftovers’.

So, we are in the home stretch, but we aren’t done yet.

I still have a soup bone, tazzo ham, cube steak, a rump roast and frozen breaded shrimp to use.

I have begged for suggestions on my personal FaceBook page and Indy Call me Chef facebook page. I’m feeling confident that I will be able to use all of these ingredients.

I have some tabouleh, penne pasta, frozen cheese tortellini and pumpkin ravioli, frozen green beans and it seems one other frozen veggie item also.

I’m guessing that I’m going to get at least 5 more dishes and probably 8 more meals out of the food.

If you are interested in a recap of what I’ve made, check out my Pinterest board.

Most of the time, getting 80% of the way through projects is acceptable and okay. When you are sharing projects with an online blog, I’ve learned the hard way that 80% isn’t the best way to go.

In other words, I’ve been having a hard time figuring out the answer to the last blog post question “how many meals did I fix during last year’s The Great Purge?”

Last year I logged this on my personal Facebook page and did an 80% job posting to a Pinterest board. It looks like I documented a meal made with cube steak and two kinds of beans on February 19th. Later that day, I referenced ‘the loaves and the fishes’ and stated that I had three more meals from leftovers.

So, my best guess is that I went 25 meals. My recollection before looking back through details was that I made 32 meals. But, I can’t document that. So, we are going to go with 25 – a nice memorable number.

And, I made it to the last week in February before purchasing protein.

Like this:

Let’s be clear – we are NOT minimalists around here. I mean – even if we’d want to be – it ain’t happening. We live in the midwest, in a typical-size, newer, subdivision suburban home, with three children – we are not minimalists.

But, we don’t like alot of stuff. And on top of that – my husband was in the military. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘a place for everything, and everything in its place’.

So, Christmas tends to be hard around here. We want gifts, we need things and we want things. But, where does all the new stuff go, what do we give away that we no longer need, and what can we use up.

Last year, after Christmas, I thought that the easiest place to start ‘purging’ old stuff would be the food. All kinds of leftover cookies and candy. Leftovers from meals – a few pieces of lasagna, frozen turkey, homemade broth, etc.

I announced that we would be eating leftovers until they were gone.

About a week later, I made a second announcement (mainly to the kids) that things were going to start getting very interesting around meal-time. (Read this as kids begin to eat lots of PB&J and grilled cheese sandwiches).

I had decided I was going to use everything before I started purchasing new. I would buy no proteins and no canned/dried goods until everything was gone.

I started getting really creative and like the loaves and the fishes – it seemed there was no bottom to the freezer or back to the pantry. Would it ever end?

And some point, we named this exercise ‘The Great Purge’. I know – the name bothers some, but it’s stuck at this point.

So, that’s the story. And, guess what, we are at it again – The Great Purge, Volume 2 in 2013.

This year, I’m going to capture meals and share on Facebook and Pinterest. I’m going to blog about it and I’m going to see who wants to join in, who can help me decide what to make, who can guess how long this can possibly go on, and how we all can learn from and share with each other.

So, here goes!

The first step this year – (cheat on Facebook if you want) – how many meals was I able to prepare last year before buying protein or canned/dried foods?

I was fortunate to be able to host my in-laws for Thanksgiving again this year. Because it was going to be a small gathering – just 8 of us – we tried not to overplan or over-cook. We didn’t enjoy ‘the big meal’ until evening, around 5:30. We needed to work around some third shift schedules and such.

We roasted the turkey and had dressing, cranberry relish, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts for sides. My sister-in-law brought a veggie tray and salad with all kinds of fixings. My in-laws brought homemade bread, rum cake, and apple pie. I had also made a pumpkin pie and cookies.

I was quite disappointed with the meal – the parts that I was in charge of – the turkey and sides. Nothing tasted special or good enough. It was just food. Nothing special.

But, as is customary, we ate leftovers for the next couple of days. The exact same food – reheated. All of it smashed together on a plate. And other than adding some salt – which most of the dishes did need – there was nothing else done to prep the food for reheating.

And, you know what, the leftovers were great. I mean really good food! It didn’t seem like leftovers and I wasn’t disappointed that I was eating them over and over again.

At first, I couldn’t figure it out. How had this same food tasted so boring and really bad on Thanksgiving day?

My only explanation is that I was already stuffed when we sat down to eat. We had a light lunch, but had snacked around all day in anticipation for the big meal. I wasn’t a bit hungry when I sat down to eat. As a result, the food tasted bad. I didn’t need it. I’m not sure I even wanted it.

But, the next two days, when I wasn’t cooking because we were having leftovers. I was hungry. The food was great.

Here’s what I learned: food only tastes good when I’m hungry; and more importantly, it tastes bad when I’m already stuffed.

It’s the night before trash day. That means it’s time to go through the fridge.

I love this task. It’s my own version of food rescue. Not because I typically find unidentifiable objects – but more because I find leftovers that got pushed to the back and will narrowly miss the garbage can.

There is usually the squishy peach or the nearly moldy strawberries. Both of these items can be salvaged. Cut off the bad (if moldy) and keep all the squishy. Throw in a container into the freezer and I’m going to save on next week’s smoothie ingredients.

Fruit Smoothie

There is typically a leftover protein – anything from a random pork chop (less than 5 days old – health rule!) or even boiled eggs – that I can turn into tomorrow’s lunch.

And my favorite part is quite possibly throwing out last week’s mistakes. Those leftover cheese tortellini that no one liked – trash. The end of the loaves of bread – now moldy – feed the ducks out back. The two leftover pancakes that no one ever ate – garbage.

It’s a fresh start. It’s making right the past week’s wrongs. It’s the impetous to start a grocery list for the following week. A chance to reward the kid who complained the least this week about meals – ‘hey, what would you like next week for dinner one night’.